Antonio Martín Escudero

Antonio Martín Escudero (Belvís de Monroy, Cáceres, 17 January 1895 - Bellver de Cerdanya, Lleida, 27 April 1937), also known as El Cojo de Málaga (The cripple of Malaga), was an anarchist syndicalist and militiaman.

He was known as El Cojo de Málaga due to the limp caused by a bone disease in his right leg and in analogy with Joaquín José Vargas Soto, a flamenco singer also known as El Cojo de Málaga.

Biography

Introduction to the anarchist movement The son of emigrants to Catalonia, he came into contact with the Los Solidarios group in Barcelona in 1922, to face the dirty war carried out against the labor movement by the civil governor of Barcelona, Martínez Anido, and the bosses' gunmen. The following year, after the coup d'état of Primo de Rivera in Spain, he settled in Puigcerdà (capital of Cerdanya) as a delegate of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) to collaborate in the smuggling of weapons for the fight against the dictatorship.

Exile in France In 1924, due to his illness, he went to France until 1934, maintaining contact with other members of Los Solidarios, such as Durruti. He worked as a shoemaker in Paris. In Aubervilliers he had a daughter, Florida Martín Sanmartín. There he also worked in construction and later in a garage. However, more recent historiography has denied his alleged responsibility for these deaths.

Death On 27 April 1937, Antonio Martín and Julio Fortuny, from Seu d'Urgell, and two other militants, were killed in an ambush in Bellver.